Watch your kids: hurt teen s mum - The West Australian

The mother of a 15-year-old who is in intensive care after being punched during a weekend brawl is angry at questions about why her son was out in the early hours with other youths, as he lies injured in Royal Perth Hospital.

However, she has urged parents to keep a closer eye on their children. Caroline Gilbert said she and her husband sent their son Leonard Smith to live with his grandmother in Perth to study at Clontarf Aboriginal College.

There was no high school in Yulga Jinna, the remote Aboriginal community where they lived, and limited options at Meekatharra, about 130km south, she said.

"I can't just jump in my car from Yulga Jinna and rush straight down here to tell Leonard to go to bed," Ms Gilbert said.

"Every parent knows when they get in their teens they want to get out."

But as Ms Gilbert waited anxiously to learn if her son would recover, she said: "Parents should look after their kids and watch their kids where they are late at night."

Ms Gilbert said doctors were trying to wake her son from a coma. He has head injuries after he was punched and apparently fell back on the pavement, splitting his head, on a Burswood street early on Sunday morning.

Police were yesterday searching for the teenager suspected of punching Leonard during the wild brawl involving up to 20 youths, some reportedly as young as seven.